Technical Field
The present invention relates to methods, systems, and apparatuses for automatic identification and mapping of consumer electronic devices to ports on an HDMI switch.
Background Art
A typical household has about 3 or 4 audio/video (A/V) devices connected to a television (TV) or high definition TV (HDTV). These devices typically include a cable/satellite TV set top box (STB), an audio system, a Blu-ray® or DVD (digital versatile disc) player, a digital media adapter, a game console, and so on.
Most of these devices now come with a high-speed high-definition media interface (HDMI) to allow transfer of high resolution video and audio from the source device (Blu-ray® player, cable TV set top box, etc.) to the sink device (typically the television). By its very nature this is a many-to-one configuration (many sources connected to a sink).
In order to manage multiple devices an HDMI repeater/switch is used between the sink and the many sources that allows a user to switch amongst the sources without having to physically swap out cables every time. A typical HDMI switch configuration 100A is shown in FIG. 1A. A sink device such as TV 102 is connected to an HDMI switch 104 over an HDMI connection 112. One or more source devices are also connected to HDMI switch 104. For example a STB 106 is connected via an HDMI connection 114, a game console 108 is connected via an HDMI connection 116, and a Blu-ray® player 110 is connected via an HDMI connection 118.
Many televisions have also started incorporating switch functionality. Multiple HDMI sources are connected directly to the television that then acts as a switch. However many televisions have a limited number of inputs for source devices, and an additional external switch is required to manage the source devices. Moreover, televisions lack the ability to connect to an external, surround speaker system which makes an HDMI repeater (e.g., an audio/video repeater (AVR)) another candidate to be placed in between HDMI sources and an HDMI sink.
To add to the confusion, a typical HDMI switch has ports that have a fixed configuration as inputs or outputs. It is therefore required that HDMI sources are connected to inputs of the HDMI switch and the HDMI sink(s) to the output(s) of the HDMI switch. Once plugged in, it becomes difficult to remember which device was connected to which port. For example, FIG. 1B shows a switch configuration 100B that is a variation of switch configuration 100A. In FIG. 1B, STB 106 has become the active source device, which is the device selected by HDMI switch 104 to supply media content to TV 102. Accordingly, HDMI switch 104 switches to input port 1 for STB 106, thereby making STB 106 an active device 120 that supplies media content over HDMI connection 114 in switch configuration 100B. Similarly, FIG. 1C shows a switch configuration 100C that is a variation of switch configurations 100A and 100B with a change for HDMI switch 104 from input port 1 to input port 2 for game console 108. That is, game console 108 has become an active device 122 enabled to supply media content to TV 102 over HDMI connection 116 in switch configuration 100B. However, for a user to change to port 1 of HDMI switch 104, or to port 2 of HDMI switch 104, the user must remember which device is connected to which port.
Additionally, given that switching ports takes time due to the inherent latencies associated with syncing the newly selected source input (e.g., due to potentially different A/V characteristics, content protection checks, etc.) to the sink, the user may shuffle a few times amongst the various ports before being able to fix on the right port.
Each of these issues decreases the overall enjoyment and satisfaction associated with the end user experience.